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The Luxury magazine devoted to Swiss Masters of excellence
06
Summer 08 www.swissmademagazine.com
The greatest luxury in life is time. Savour every second. THE FLYING B CHRONOGRAPH
United under a “winged B”, Breitling and Bentley share the same concern for perfection.The same exacting standards of reliability, precision and authenticity.The same fusion of prestige and performance. In the Breitling workshops, just as in the Bentley factories in Crewe, cuttingedge technology works hand in hand with the noblest traditions. For devotees of fine mechanisms, Breitling has created a line of exceptional timepieces named Breitling for Bentley. While conveying the essence of aesthetic refinement, these wrist instruments are all equipped with high-performance “motors”, patiently assembled by watchmakers at the peak of their art... Time is the ultimate luxury. www.breitlingforbentley.com
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sm editorial
PA SSI ON N É
D' E XCE P T IO N
Dear Readers, The watch is no longer simply a functional object used to track time, but more and more an expression of one’s personality. More than ever, people around the world seem to like and appreciate mechanical watches, the best manifestation of over 300 years of traditional craftsmanship.
Academia
Seconde Rétrograde Exclusive DeWitt calibre DW1101 mechanical retrograde second movement, retrograde seconds moving across a hand-turned, fan-shaped. "Academia" rose gold case set with 302 round diamonds (3.30ct), rose gold, white & rose mother-of-pearl dial.
Contributing to this trend is an increasing and stronger knowledge of the brands and products. Discerning buyers want to know more about the history, heritage and activities of the brands before their final decision. Beside this more rational approach, the purchase of a watch plays on our emotions. The aesthetics of the watch has to seduce us with its color, the finishing, the comfort, the security or power it can give us. There is one other factor playing a big part in the selection of a watch or a brand: its association with people we connect to, sports we relate to, or social commitment we share.
and director George Clooney, a journey into mechanical wonders developed by Swiss Masters watchmakers DeWitt, Audemars Piguet, DeGrisogono and Harry Winston. On the notes of “Summertime… and the livin’ s easy”, our editorial team flew into Los Angeles to bring you a fresh and light-hearted breeze from the West Coast… The most discerning feminine readers will enjoy an exclusive selection of Haute Joaillerie creations by master jewelers such as Chopard, Leon Hatot, Furrer Jacot and Cartier. Our journey into the luxury of Time will take you on the shores of a daydream private and exclusive island just outside Belize. Enjoy your Summertime… in Style!
The watch is therefore more than a technical device, and becomes an expression of values we want to convey in a more subtle way. It is an expression of our approach to life and the lifestyle we embrace or aim to achieve. Reporting on Time and Quality Time, the summer issue of SwissMade Magazine takes you on a new and diversified journey we are sure you will enjoy: from diving in the sea with the first submarine car by Rinspeed, a meeting on Lake Como with actor
M. Pantieri
Staff Editor Massimiliano Pantieri Art Director Sherry Williams Photography Ken Pivak Contributors Beth Braverman Susan Robinson Noah Joseph Sherry Williams Lexi Schuh April Boland
M A N U FAC T U R E D E W I T T - G E N E VA - S W I T Z E R L A N D - W W W. D E W I T T. C H
SM Magazine Summer 2008
Shabana Nather Rosanne Lim Yolanda Evans Lei Conrad Billy Bautista Andrea Stolarczyk Copy Editor Susan Robinson Graphic Designer Nicky Taylor Printing Tecnografica Srl
Editorial office SwissMade Magazine Via Taiada 50 6517 Arbedo (TI) Switzerland Contacts editor@swissmademagazine.com advertising@swissmademagazine.com Exclusive distribution in United States and Europe in luxury hotels, boutiques, executive lounges, private limousine services, embassies, special events and exhibitions.
All the published material has been provided by the mentioned brands. Therefore, SwissMade Magazine cannot be responsible for copyright issues and assumes no responsibility on inaccurate information or changes in the products or prices displayed. Copyright by SwissMade Magazine. Reproduction or use of the content in whole or in part without the written permission of the editor is strictly prohibited.
Editorial 5
sm index Innovations 8
Objet D’art – DeWitt
11 Blazing new Trails - Audemars Piguet 14 Return to the Future - De Grisogono 18 Art of Digital Emotion - Harry Winston
Cars 20 Double-Eau Status - RINSPEED
60
82
64
26
8
People 26 George Clooney
Special 32 Romain Jerome
Trends 34 Black to Basics 40 Bright Whites
88
Fashion
34
44 Summertime and the Livin’ is easy…
32
Haute Joaillerie 60 Les Animaux 64 Bride To Be 68 Summer Florals
News 72 Chopard Boutique NYC
Travel
44 40
76 Golden Paradise
Ambassadors 82 Andre Agassi 86 Maggie Cheung
Events 88 Locarno Film Festival
76
20
68
Sport 92 Olympics by Omega
Speed 96 The fastest ONE – WEBER
SM Magazine Summer 2008
Index 7
sm innovations
concept watches
Objet d’art By Massimiliano Pantieri
DeWitt, a contemporary brand of avant-garde Haute Horlogerie firmly belongs to the tradition of fundamental horological invention. The year in progress represents the fifth anniversary of the Maison and highlights its strong surge, underscored by a set of new releases following on from several landmark patents in watchmaking history. The pure, modern approach of which the brand has become an acknowledged icon is now epitomised in the WX-1, the first Watch Concept developed by the tirelessly innovative House of DeWitt. Wx-1: far more than a watch The first Watch Concept by DeWitt, a contemporary objet d’art, lends a whole new dimension to the watchmaking world This exceptional creation embodies a range of cultural values merging design, futurism, sophisticated construction of its various elements, and an original interpretation of time read off. Time and Creation, mental architecture and spatial construction, united in a vision of tomorrow… Representing a daring wager on the future, this pure multidimensional concept offers an entirely new vision of what we refer to as watchmaking. DeWitt is consistently guided by a philosophy of doing things differently, and this principle has now given rise to WX-1. The original concept was apparently quite simple: creating a watch that was different from and indeed far more than a watch. How could one
SM Magazine Summer 2008
best marry authentic technological innovations and advanced aesthetics? The result of the conceptual approach had to be unprecedented, technical and highly exclusive, so as to assert itself as the embodiment of contemporary watchmaking art. Everything about WX-1 confirms that this daring bid has been successful in terms of both form and content.
Embodying the multicultural art of watchmaking The genesis of this objet d’art stems from a momentous encounter between two individuals. The object designed and developed under the name of WX-1 tells a story, that of two exceptional friends, Jérôme de Witt and Jean-Michel Wilmotte. The designer and the architect blended their curiosity and talent, uniting their thoughts in pursuing the single minded goal of developing an object intended to measure time – but also and above all endowed with an exceptional design and truly avant-garde technology.
The result is the original and ultra-exclusive WX-1, which asserts itself as a spectacular incarnation of the watchmaking art, stemming directly from the concept lab of the House of DeWitt. This exceptional futuristic creation undeniably evokes the most cuttingedge industries. Carrying references to planes, cars, speedboats and contemporary art, the overall architecture of this model makes it a totally modern and truly multicultural object. The daring formal design features are matched by an exceptional and indeed world-first mechanical construction that completely dissociates the displays from the mechanism driving them. WX-1 was intended to make a difference and to establish a new benchmark in watchmaking. Mission accomplished.
Objet D’art 9
sm innovations
concept watches
Standing for much more than any straightforward conventional case, this sophisticated object comprises a large number of model components, a winding device as well as particularly elaborate sliding systems. This high-tech architectural construction combines grade 5 titanium and eloxed aluminium, both materials known for their extreme qualities and together weighing just 191 grams! One would normally expect a case of this stature to weigh around 600 gram
A construction incorporating a set of sophisticated systems This exceptional timepiece is equipped with two systems on the front and back of the case. The crown traditionally located on the front of the dial serves its standard time-setting function when pulled out to the first notch.
Icon of several contemporary worlds An authentic machine representing several contemporary worlds, the pulsating heart of the WX-1 is equipped with a vertical flying tourbillon with a carriage performing one revolution per minute and visible through a cylindrical “chimney” located on the back of the case.
and minute discs. This complex creation is a genuine first in the history of watch engineering. It can be viewed by sliding the “hood” or “bonnet” thereby revealing the entire mechanism – the display and the movement - housed beneath its transparent covering plate.
A technological thoroughbred
The mechanical hand-wound movement comprises a parallel going train with five barrels ensuring a 21-day (approximately 504-hour) power reserve. The parts making up this “competitive racing” engine barrels, gear train, tourbillon carriage, power-reserve indicator and winding device - are all arranged in vertical order.
The performances of this technological thoroughbred also relate to the materials chosen for its construction, governed by the criteria of lightness and resistance. All the parts composing the supporting structure of the WX-1 movement - mainplate and bridges - are made from an aluminium-lithium alloy. The movement weighs no more than 27 grams in all.
The power reserve is displayed by a coaxial roller, while the time of day is read off on two rotating discs. The first, showing the minutes, turns in a clockwise direction, while the one displaying the hours turns counter-clockwise by means of a clever gear system mounted on six runners.
This ultra high-tech material is currently widely used in the aeronautical industry, particularly due to its exceptional performances. The latter match those of the movement, thereby ensuring both the lightness and the reliability of a 16.04 mm thick construction composed of 458 parts.
Very much a machine of future time, WX-1 beats to the cadence of a revolutionary mechanism featuring an unprecedented construction. Contrary to standard practice and indeed to everything introduced to date, the display of the information is disengaged from the movement driving mechanism.
A light case for a sophisticated object
The going train, playing the role of propeller shaft, passes on the time measuring indications to the hour
SM Magazine Summer 2008
Innovative in terms of both its shape and its dimensions, the case of the WX-1 asserts its powerful personality, echoing the sophisticated micromechanical feat of engineering inside. Composed of 370 parts, its highly complex construction testifies to an entirely novel approach.
On the back of the case, very much like jet engines, sit two cylindrical “chimneys”: one offers an original view of the tourbillon regulator at work, while the other houses the winding system of the WX-1. This device, which can be extracted from its recess by activating a bolt placed between the two cylindrical openings, serves to wind the watch. An electronically-driven tool specially developed for this object serves to wind the five barrels in a few dozen seconds. This extremely sophisticated hightech instrument has a 90-minute running time when fully charged. Rotating at 60 revs per minute and featuring a torque of 10 Newton/millimetre, it is powered by a lithium battery and enables the user to wind the five WX-1 barrels in just a few seconds, by means of a vertical switch. It can be recharged by a wall charger or by the USB socket on the back of the tool. The WX-1 can also be manually wound using a second tool supplied with the watch. WX-1, an authentic avant-garde creation and a unique elitist object, is a subtle alchemist’s blend of the emblematic values of the House of DeWitt merging state-of-the-art technologies entirely in line with the enduring tradition of watchmaking innovation. WX-1, which will be issued in an extremely limited series, comes with a desk stand that accentuates its multidimensional and multi-functional status.
Blazing New Trails
By Massimiliano Pantieri
Royal Oak Carbon Concept Tourbillon and Chronograph A date with the future! A pioneer in the use of new materials, the Manufacture Audemars Piguet once again blazes a new trail with its Royal Oak Carbon Concept Tourbillon and Chronograph. Already the first and only watch company to master forged carbon technology, the Manufacture in Le Brassus is taking a further step by presenting the first watch equipped with both a case and movement in carbon. Lightness and sturdiness are the keynotes of this exceptional timepiece, since along with carbon, forged carbon and the amorphous carbon coating, its materials also include ceramics, titanium and eloxed aluminium. In terms of its display, this model features an entirely original linear chronograph minute counter. The Royal Oak Carbon Concept Tourbillon and Chronograph doubtless prefigures the future of watchmaking.
Always one step ahead In 2002, for the 30th anniversary of the Royal Oak collection, Audemars Piguet presented a concept watch, the Royal Oak Concept, which caused a sensation. Today, the Manufacture in Le Brassus goes one step further and unveils the Royal Oak
Carbon Concept Tourbillon and Chronograph. This ultra-light timepiece is the first to combine a carbon case and movement - and to incorporate the intrinsic complexity of the 384-part Calibre 2895 tourbillon chronograph movement. The exterior of the Royal Oak Carbon Concept Tourbillon and Chronograph reflects the scope of the developments implied in this project. Forged carbon was chosen to clothe the case middle of this concept edition. While this material is widely used in the aviation industry for large-sized components, Audemars Piguet is the first company to have adapted it to the diminutive size of watch parts, as well as to the aesthetic demands of Haute Horlogerie. The Royal Oak signature bezel is crafted in ceramics, as are the pushpieces and the crown. The latter is enhanced with the AP initials and features the distinctive characteristic of systematically positioning these two letters horizontally when it is fully locked. Meanwhile, the ring surrounding the caseback is secured by eight screws with an exclusive design and made from PVD blackened titanium.
Nor is the movement to be outdone when it comes to materials. The mainplate is made of carbon and the central bridge from green eloxed aluminium. On the caseback side, the bridges are black PVD-coated, while the control and coupling levers are black PVDcoated in relief and embellished with a hand-drawn metal-coloured rim. The two power-reserve cones are clad in an amorphous carbon coating, as are the inserts decorating the openworked zones at 6 and 12 o’clock. Meanwhile, the tourbillon carriage with its unusual design -composed of more than 70 parts weighing just 0.45 grams - is treated to a twotone black PVD and steel finish.
Blazing New Trails 11
The sheer complexity of Calibre 2895 The exclusive hand-wound Audemars Piguet Calibre 2895 is composed of 384 parts. Housed within its futuristic “coachwork”, it combines a tourbillon, a chronograph and a twin-barrel system ensuring a 237-hour power reserve. It features central hour and minute hands, a power-reserve indicator at 12 o’clock, a selection indicator at 6 o’clock, a central chronograph sweep seconds hand, and a linear chronograph minute counter.
Ingenuity is the hallmark of Calibre 2895 Calibre 2895 incorporates a rapid-rotation twinbarrel system - with a number of turns restricted to 19.75 - guaranteeing constant force throughout the 237 hours of autonomy and thus enhancing its timekeeping qualities. In actual fact, the full power reserve available thanks to the two series-coupled barrels amounts to around 290 hours. However, an ingenious locking system - in the low and high winding-level zones - concentrates the running time on a 237-hour period, thereby ensuring optimal operation. The 19.75 winding turns of each barrel - a well above-average number - are made possible by the use of a particularly thin spring. The power-reserve display at 12 o’clock benefits from two other developments that guarantee reliable and accurate display thanks to perfect adjustment. The power-reserve indication with transmission via an inverted double cone was developed by Audemars Piguet in 1885. The Manufacture adapted this system to the wristwatch, thus enabling extremely accurate adjustment of the amplitude of the indicator hand. A beryllium copper cone coated in amorphous carbon moves up and down the barrel-arbor according to the degree of winding of the watch; when the position is low, the barrel is fully wound, and vice versa. In contact with this mobile cone, a second
SM Magazine Summer 2008
cone, also coated in amorphous carbon, picks up this information to transmit it to the power-reserve indicator hand at 12 o’clock. The amorphous carbon coating on both cones guarantees the finest tribological properties between the two. In order to ensure a precise indication of the power reserve and perfect security in case of sudden impacts or movements, an unprecedented double rack-and-pinion system guarantees permanent winding of the hand, and thus its precision. Finally, Calibre 2895 also features a selection indicator mechanism. According to the position of the winding stem, the hand positioned on the dial at 6 o’clock indicates the function selected. The H, N and R indications correspond to the three positions of the winding stem, meaning neutral (N), winding (R) and time-setting (H).
Avant-garde design and linear counter While Haute Horlogerie generally seeks to unveil as much as possible of the mechanism and its gears, the Royal Oak Carbon Concept Tourbillon and Chronograph prides itself first and foremost on the avant-garde design of its materials. It reveals only the key components of the movement: the tourbillon carriage and the nerve centre of the chronograph, the column wheel. In keeping with this spirit, the absence of dial provides a spectacular view of the carbon mainplate, itself enlivened by the double symmetry of the tourbillon bridges and minute counter on the one hand (at 9 and 3 o’clock), the power-reserve and selection indicator “dial-bridges” on the other (at 12 and 6 o’clock). The same geometry is revealed through the openworked bridges on the caseback side, providing a glimpse of the tourbillon and chronograph mechanisms as well as the column wheel. The
striking contrast between the green colour of the central bridge and the black of the baseplate, as well as the bridges, also deserves to be underscored. In addition to the magic of the constantly moving tourbillon, the Royal Oak Carbon Concept Tourbillon and Chronograph is distinguished by its linear chronograph minute counter. Specially developed by Audemars Piguet, this unprecedented 30-minute chronograph counter consists of a double vertical scale (tens of minutes from 1 to 2; minute units from 0 to 9). The elapsed minutes in the chronograph mode are read off through dedicated openings on the counter bridge. The elapsed time is indicated by these openings shifting from white to black.
The dominating overall impression is that of an ultra-modern design combining technical sophistication and resistance, once again reflecting the extreme daring of the Manufacture. A spirit clearly reminiscent of Audemars Piguet’s world-first use of steel in a high-end watch. That was back in 1972 and the newcomer was none other than the Royal Oak!
Technical specifications Royal Oak Carbon Concept Tourbillon and Chronograph Reference: 26265FO.OO.D002CR.01
Movement
Case
Calibre: 2895, hand-wound with tourbillon Total diameter: 151/3 lignes (34.60 mm) Casing-diameter: 33.80 mm Thickness: 12.01 mm 34 jewels 384 parts Power reserve: 237 hours Cadence of the balance: 21,600 vibrations per hour Finishing: hand-polished bevelling, sides hand-drawn with a file, matt surface, sapphireblasted Carbon mainplate, eloxed aluminium bridges
Forged carbon, Ceramic bezel Caseback ring in black PVD-coated titanium Diameter: 44 mm Total thickness: 15.85 mm Sapphire crystal caseback Water-resistance: 100 m Display Integrated onto the movement Graduated dial ring with luminescent hourmarkers and white minute markers Openworked luminescent hour and minute hands
Strap Hand-sewn alligator leather with large square scales, AP folding clasp in titanium Functions Hours and minutes Linear chronograph minute counter with central sweep seconds hand Power-reserve indication Selection indicator
Blazing New Trails 13
sm innovations
post digital era
Return to the future! By Massimiliano Pantieri
The inventors and designers of Haute Horlogerie enjoy a rare privilege: the luxury of choice. Existing constructional principles and concepts can of course always be revisited and reinterpreted but a design team can also decide to strike out in an entirely new direction. Founder and president of de GRISOGONO, Fawaz Gruosi naturally favors the second approach. With the MECCANICO dG, the Geneva-based house’s latest entry, de GRISOGONO is introducing a design that projects hallowed horological traditions far into the future. With its 651 components, the MECCANICO dG’s mechanical movement is one of the most intricate made today. A Haute Horlogerie timepiece with two distinct timezones, it is the first to display both analogue and digital time by mechanical means. This world first - and de GRISOGONO patent! - features
a highly complex time mechanism inside a particularly contemporary design.
never looked back, intent on leading the brand into uncharted and definitely challenging territory.
For his company’s fifteenth anniversary, Fawaz Gruosi, founder and president of de GRISOGONO, was determined to break new ground and explore an area no watch manufacturer had ever ventured into: a digital display driven by an exclusively mechanical system. Although it took considerable confidence and even a touch of rashness to involve himself with a project of this kind, Fawaz Gruosi
With its patented double time display, both analogue and digital, the MECCANICO dG design inaugurates a totally novel concept in mechanical Haute Horlogerie. A single mechanical movement, twin timezones, two types of display - the MECCANICO dG embodies a major innovation, combining for the first time in the history of horology a digital time display and a mechanical power supply.
A new dimension The digital display is a child of the quartz era. At the time, electronics seemed to have won the day and mechanical timekeeping was under threat. Three decades later, magnificently intricate mechanical movements are more in demand than ever and Haute Horlogerie enjoying unprecedented success. The intervening years saw traditional watchmaking recover and reinvent itself. Generating invention after invention, creating ever more stunning, gloriously finished designs, traditional watchmaking has conferred objet d’art status on its most cunningly complex timepieces. Yet up to now, it had never revisited the digital time display. With the MECCANICO dG, this reluctance is
SM Magazine Summer 2008
now a thing of the past. The design propels horological history forward into a new dimension. The MECCANICO dG can be described as a dense cluster of microsystems featuring extremely elaborate cam and gear assemblies. Its exclusive de GRISOGONO handwound mechanical movement comprises 651 components. It is composed of an analogue display of the hours and minutes on the upper dial and a digitally displayed second timezone on the lower dial. The mechanically operated digital display of the second timezone shows tens of hours, single hours, tens of minutes and single minutes, all displayed by
mobile microsegments driven by an assemblage of 23 cams connected to a set of gears and a triggering and synchronization system. The time information is displayed by an array of 23 horizontally and vertically positioned microsegments. Vertical segments are 9 mm high and weigh at most 25 milligrams while the horizontal segments measure 2.90 mm in length and weigh only 10 milligrams. The segments have four faces: two opposing visible faces fitted with colored strips and two opposing unmarked faces. Time changes are effected by 90° rotations of the required segment or segments. Involving one to twelve segments, time changes are lightning fast.
Return To The Future 15
Groundbreaking design The MECCANICO dG’s exclusive Haute Horlogerie technical design is matched by striking contemporary styling. Its intricate mechanical systems are visible through its transparent dial plate. Also featuring colored strips, the analogue time display’s hour markers seem suspended in thin air so as to reveal the underlying mechanism. Like every de GRISOGONO movement, the MECCANICO dG’s own caliber is meticulously finished and its components blackened. The words “de GRISOGONO” and “Swiss Made” are inscribed directly on the movement while the back of the watch features a nameplate bearing the name “MECCANICO dG”.
Despite the power needed to generate the double analogue and digital display and the torque required to effect the instantaneous rotation of the digital display’s microsegments, the MECCANICO’s handwound mechanical movement, exclusive to de GRISOGONO, provides a power reserve of some 35 hours, visible through a cambered sapphire backplate on a 90° sectoral display on the movement’s reverse side. The MECCANICO dG case does justice to its exceptional movement. Notable for generous dimensions (56 x 48 mm) and camberedlines, water-resistant to 30 meters (~ 100 feet), this pioneering design is available in a choice of styles: titanium, titanium
and red gold, titanium and rubber and titanium and platinum. In keeping with the design’s futuristic allure, its correctors and the crown guard are fashioned from vulcanized rubber. Its analogue display is set by the crown opposite 3 o’clock while the second timezone is set by a pair of correctors - for hours at left, for minutes at right. Also crafted from vulcanized rubber, the strap is fitted with a deployment clasp buckle featuring the de GRISOGONO crest. Launched to mark an exceptional horological year at de GRISOGONO, the MECCANICO dG is being produced in a limited edition of 177 watches.
Technical specifications
Power reserve:
about 35 hours
Reference:
DG 042
Indications:
Hours, minutes and second timezone
Caliber:
Exclusive to de GRISOGONO
Movement thickness:
11.45 mm
Case:
titanium; 5N red gold; titanium and gold; titanium and platinum, titanium and rubber
Water resistance:
30 meters (~ 100 feet) = 30 atm.
Hands:
“dauphine” style in 18K red gold
Strap:
black natural rubber
Clasp:
Double deployment construction in titanium and 5N red gold.
Movement dimensions: rectangular: 38.10 x 34.70 mm Number of components: 651 for the movement, 70 for the case Jewelling:
77 (movement and display)
Frequency:
28,800 v.p.h. (4 Hz)
824 M ADISON AVE NUE , N E W YORK 212 439 4220 - 1-866-DE G RISO G E N E VA - G STAAD - HONG KONG - KUWAIT - L ON DON - M OSCOW - MY K O NO S N E W YORK - PARIS - PORTO C E RVO - ROM E - ST BARTH - ST M ORIT Z - T O K Y O SM Magazine Summer 2008
w w w. d e g r i s o g o n o . c o m
sm innovations
post digital era
The art of digital emotion By Massimiliano Pantieri
Harry Winston & Frédéric Garinaud: meet for a new reading of the time Five years ago, Frédéric Garinaud came up with an idea: To invent a hybrid timepiece that would bring together complicated mechanics and digital electronics. Around the same time, Garinaud first learned of the Opus concept developed by Harry Winston and began dreaming of an innovative piece to bring to the brand, which would come to be known as Opus 8. Interested in developing his hybrid idea, Harry Winston met with Garinaud in early 2007 and presented him with a new challenge: Why not transform the hybrid display
into a digital display? Garinaud immediately returned to his design table to create a prototype design. Arriving at Basel 2007, armed with rolls of design drawings and his team from the Cellule des Spécialités Horlogères, the “Magician” revealed his latest tricks, presenting his preliminary plan for Opus 8. Though the brand was initially unconvinced, Garinaud continued to work his innovative magic 10 days later, he would receive an important and enthusiastic call. Harry Winston had accepted the plans. The Opus adventure had begun.
Opus 8: the art of digital emotion; Reinterpretation of a (r)evolution Rooted in the Pop Art moment of the 1970s, Digital Art and Technology have revolutionized our way of life and continue to influence contemporary art and culture. Allowing artists to create works of extreme complexity, these same advances in digital technology have also transformed the art of modern watchmaking. Armed with the avant-garde and innovative spirit that defined this decade, Opus 8 represents a continuation of this technological and artistic (r)evolution...
A mechanism inspired by a game An exceptional and advanced timepiece, Opus 8 utilizes hand-wound mechanical movements to create a modern, digital time display. Inspired by pin art games, which create 3D impressions of objects pressed against them, the numbers in the display will only appear “upon request,” activated by a bolt on the right hand side of the case. Nothing appears until the mechanism is wound.
racing, Garinaud’s team successfully adapted it to use for watch microparts. The specialized material has an extremely low friction coefficient and highly resistant coating. Wear, blockages and material discharge become almost non-existent.
The innovation’s magic In addition to a modern, sophisticated technique, Opus 8 features a strikingly original dial display. On the left is a four-digit hour display - two for the hour and two for the time of day (AM/PM). When it is 20h00, the watch will display 08PM. On the right is an innovative minute counter, with a layout and display from bottom to top. Set in 5 minute segments (precision being secondary), the 5 minute indicator is an arrow-shaped ring. The hour and minute numbers recalls the symmetrical hexagonal typography found in liquid crystal mechanics.
A very “seventies case” With its imposing rectangular dimensions - 43mm wide, 41mm long, 13 thick - Opus 8’s bold, graphic shape resembles a retro-style television set. The case front has a resolutely digital display with its 4mm-thick domed crystal blocking the segments . With the display winding bolt located on the right and the winding crown on left, the mechanism has a movement rotation of 180 °. The display of the hour is not possible during winding. In the middle, an opening allows us to admire the heart - the balance. The movement’s back is decorated like a printed circuit, with lines leading to the various time elements. At the top, the hours (H) and the minutes (M). On the left, the periods of the day (AM/PM), and on the right, the 48-hour power reserve indicator (PRI). At the bottom, two lines indicate the co-designers of the watch, Garinaud & CSH (Cellule de Spécialités Horlogères),and the serial number.
A plate joins together small segments, both mobile and fixed. Just underneath is a disc driven by the movement, which turns independently in real time. When the mechanism is wound, the pieces adjust to display the time. As the plate descends, the small segments remain visible, “blocked” by the crystal, allowing the hour to be read for 5 seconds. Technically, all functions are related, enabling everything to be displayed on demand - the minute hand turns the hour that then turns the AM/PM function. The dial’s microbead blasted coating is similar to that of a calculator, while the segments are made of black anthracite with polished sides. As innovative in materials, as in mechanics, the sides of the segments are crafted of amorphous carbon. A material more commonly known in Formula 1
SM Magazine Summer 2008
The Art Of Digital Emotion 19
sm cars
Double-Eau Status
Audiences were riveted in 1977 when James Bond drove his Lotus off the end of a pier and into the water. The little white sportscar extraordinarily sprouted fins and transformed into a submarine, enabling 007 to escape with his life - and sumptuous fair damsel - intact. If you haven’t seen the scene, you haven’t tested the limits of the willful suspension of disbelief.
The submersible Lotus by Swiss innovator Rinspeed By Noah Joseph
SM Magazine Summer 2008
Double-Eau Status 21
“A submersible car that moves like a fish in water.”
Rinspeed is a firm that, in all its proud eccentricity, could only exist in Switzerland. Of course the sequence from The Spy Who Loved Me was pure fantasy, all but entirely divorced from reality. Fortunately, Rinspeed is in the fantastic business. While other automakers turn out vehicles they call “concept cars” for the major auto shows, Rinspeed pushes the term to its creative limits, confounding our conception of what constitutes an automobile. Founded by Frank Rinderknecht in 1979 - just two years after the Roger Moore classic debuted - Rinspeed is based in Zumikon, just outside of Zurich. The company has a solid business customizing and individualizing existing production vehicles - Porsches especially, having recently turned out several tuning packages for the Cayenne, Cayman and 911 - and restoring classic automobiles. However over the years, Rinspeed has gained a reputation as the most eccentric firm in the business, producing outlandish concept vehicles for each year’s Geneva Motor Show. Those vehicles have become an annual fixture at
SM Magazine Summer 2008
the exposition, raising the stakes in their fantastic absurdity with each passing year. Previous creations by the Rinspeed workshop have included the 1997 Mono Ego, a road-certified singleseater retro throwback to classic grand prix cars, and the Tatoo.com of 2000, a Swiss take on the classic American hot-rod pick-up truck. The Advantige Rone, unveiled in 2001, was several years ahead of its time with an advanced bio-fuel engine. The 2002 Presto concept was a cabriolet with adaptable seating that could transform to accommodate additional passengers, while the eXasis concept of 2007 was an eye-catching translucent showcase for advanced composite construction. In 2004 Rinspeed unveiled the appropriately-named Splash, an amphibious sportscar incorporating innovative deployable hydrofoil fins. Gliding 60 cm above the water, the Rinspeed Splash set a Guinnesscertified world record for crossing the English Channel in July 2006. Having already built a vehicle capable
of skimming the water’s surface, Rinspeed sought to create one that could breach it. Amphibious cars had been done before, but a submersible one had until now remained outside the scope of reality. Thirty years after The Spy Who Loved Me made its big-screen debut, Rinspeed turned Ian Fleming’s fantasy into reality by launching - in a sense as literal as any wheeled creation before it - the sQuba concept. Starting with a Lotus Elise, Rinspeed teamed up with a coalition of suppliers from across Switzerland and neighboring countries to transform the nimble roadster into a multi-capable vehicle. Like previous Rinspeed concept cars, the sQuba was realized by Swiss engineering firm Esoro. While Rinderknecht conceived the idea for the sQuba himself, he relies on Esoro to turn his vision into a reality, charging the firm with everything from overall project management and the utilization of new technologies to the engineering, design and manufacturing of the vehicle itself.
Amphibious cars had been done before, but a submersible one had until now remained outside the scope of reality. The problem facing any amphibious vehicle is that compromises inherently have to be made: it can be good for the water or good for the road, but not both. As is its tradition, Rinspeed eschewed the conventional wisdom and sought ways to make the sQuba concept as capable in the water as it is on the road. The first impediment was to the vehicle’s essential submergibility: “It is undoubtedly not an easy task to make a car watertight and pressure resistant enough to be maneuverable under water,” claims Rinderknecht. “The real challenge however was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water.” In a closed-cabin vehicle, a mere two cubic meters of interior space would have to be displaced by an astonishing two tons of counterweights, which would effectively ruin the car’s on-road performance. Rinspeed instead used the open-cockpit design of the Elise roadster, and in the process made the sQuba safer for emergency escape. Breathing, meanwhile, is facilitated by a compressed air system
SM Magazine Summer 2008
familiar to anyone who has gone scuba diving. While other amphibious surface vehicles try to harness the conventional engine’s power for both land and water propulsion, Rinspeed took out the engine altogether and replaced it with three electric motors: one to power the car on land and another two to drive the twin propellers in the water. A pair of frontfender-mounted water jets were thrown into the mix to facilitate maneuverability under the water’s surface. The added benefit of the electric propulsion was to transform the sQuba into a zero-emissions vehicle, doing its part of keep both air and water clean and unpolluted. The capitalized Q in the vehicle’s name pays tribute to the fictitious Bond character that kept 007 stocked with the latest high-tech gadgets that made the classic Bond films so endearing. Inspired by these fantastic inventions, Rinspeed didn’t stop at the sQuba’s incredible submergibility, but gave it another party trick: the vehicle can drive itself. The automated
system, developed by Hamburg-based Ibeo for the Pentagon’s DARPA Urban Challenge, uses a network of lasers and sensors to obviate the need of a driver altogether. As Rinspeed demonstrated, the sQuba can drive autonomously at the push of a button, capable of rescuing secret agents from precarious situations and whisking them off to a daring escape. If the thought of playing James Bond has you scrounging around for your chequebook in the hope of acquiring this most innovative of automotive toys, you’ll be disappointed to learn that Rinspeed has no intention of putting the sQuba into production. The one and only example which the company displayed this past March at the Geneva PALEXPO is destined to remain a unique creation. And a most unique creation it certainly is…until Rinspeed unveils its next concept in Geneva next year.
Double-Eau Status 25
sm people
George Clooney By Susan Robinson
Oscar-winning actor and director George Clooney has caused quite a stir in Laglio since purchasing Villa Oleandra, his home on the shore of Lake Como in northern Italy. Surely no one else has drawn so much attention from the media - or so driven up the prices of real estate - in the history of the hamlet.
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George Clooney 27
Clooney’s fame also brings a great deal of exposure to Villa Oleandra, an 18th century mansion peacefully nestled in paradise. Less famous is an old factory building connected to the villa by a footbridge. This is where the actor keeps a private office and develops his professional projects. The rough-hewn, antique wooden floors and exposedbeamed ceiling of the old factory are in sharp contrast to the ornate, rococo interiors of Villa Oleandra and the lush gardens that surround it. The building is comfortably furnished and is clearly a working space. Tellingly, it is outfitted with a pinball machine and a row of old railway clocks, each one set to a different time zone. The footbridge from Villa Oleandra to the old factory serves as a useful metaphor: Clooney bridges the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and the old-world charm of northern Italy. He also demonstrates that it is possible to create an impressive, serious body of work while maintaining senses of perspective and humor.
SM Magazine Summer 2008
Clooney is himself a man of contrasts. He is known among his colleagues for his penchant for practical jokes, but his serious passion for global environmental and political issues has been extensively documented. His performances in film comedies have been tremendously successful, but he also has developed an outstanding reputation not only as an actor in serious dramatic films but as a talented writer and director. It has been argued that Clooney is the last of the old-time movie stars - reminiscent, perhaps, of Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant. No actor working today, however, lives more in the present than Clooney. When he’s not working or advancing his causes, Clooney enjoys entertaining at his beautiful Italian lakeside home. During the summer, he often throws casual Algonquin-style dinners with guests as diverse as Brad Pitt, Al Gore and Walter Cronkite. His friends say he’s an excellent host, tending to their every need.
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It has been argued that George Clooney is the last of the oldtime movie stars reminiscent, perhaps, of Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant. He also appears to have charmed the locals. It’s not easy to love your neighbor when the paparazzi are swarming, but Clooney fits in well in Laglio. He doesn’t seclude himself in the privacy of his compound but instead is known for biking around town, eating out at restaurants and doing his own shopping. You get the feeling that if he happened to see you passing by his home, he would invite you in for a glass of wine. Clooney’s easy manner mirrors the style of Omega watches. Like the man, these classic timepieces move effortlessly from the workday to a laid-back evening or a weekend spent outdoors. His history with Omega is a long one. As a child, he recalls, he and his friends were obsessed with the space race. Omega had been clearly identified with America’s space program, and Clooney remembers that he and his pals had drawn Omega logos on their own watches. In July 1969, at the time of the first lunar landing, his uncle sent 8-year-old George his first Omega watch. After Clooney became an ambassador for the company, his father sent him the Omega watch that he had worn for 40 years. And now, in the idyllic village of Laglio in northern Italy, Clooney’s Omega connection has come full circle, linking his own great moments in time.
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sm specials
Two creative spirits and two thoroughly avant-garde visions that joined forces to create exceptional pieces, each one inspired by and imagined thanks to an ocean, the unexplored kingdom of the sunken vessel, a masterpiece of the Belle Époque.
The Titanic by Cabestan Romain Jerome and Cabestan watchmakers proudly present a limited edition consisting of six unique and inspired timepieces created in tribute to our Planet’s oceans.
RJ made with parts of the Titanic by Cabestan is the fruit of a collaboration between two people who are both deeply passionate about watchmaking: the encounter between designer Yvan Arpa - who, in addition to covering his timepieces with rust, gives them the invaluable distinction of containing the DNA of a legend, the legend of the Titanic - and the visionary Jean François Ruchonnet, the man behind the vertical Cabestan Tourbillon. A tribute to the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic and glacial Arctic oceans… They all gave rise to the many variations and different interpretations of the sea as a symbol incarnated in Greek mythology by Oceanus, the eldest of the Titans! These five unique pieces are now joined by a sixth creation - 41°43’ 55’’ N and 49°56’ 45’’ W - a timepiece that commemorates the site of the shipwreck, an archetypal piece to serve as a symbol of the tragedy. The case of this elegantly dimensioned timepiece is covered with a coat of rust characteristic of all the pieces in the RJ made with parts of the Titanic collection.
SM Magazine Summer 2008
This oxidation owes its noble process to its origins. It is derived from the extraordinary fusion between authentic steel from the shipwreck, lying 3,840 meters under the sea and steel supplied by the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, where the Titanic was built nearly a century ago. Each RJ made with parts of the Titanic by Cabestan CL 001.1 RJ movement is characterised by its third wheel based on the design of the large wheels in the main transmission shaft of the Titanic’s engine. The clear cover on these timepieces reveals a movement flanked by bronze plates and copper tubes sunk into the base plate. The nautical decorations are reminiscent of the machinery and piping used in the construction of liners from the period! Six special and unique interpretations with different characters in a variety of materials… Copper for the Indian Ocean, vermeil for the Antarctic Ocean, bronze for the Pacific, silver for the Atlantic … Charcoal gray for the glacial expanse of the Arctic Ocean and finally deep black for the 41°43’ 55’’ N and 49°56’ 45’’ W timepiece.
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Jaquet Droz Date Astrale Zodiaque Decorated with the twelve astrological signs, the “Date Astrale Zodiaque” emphasizes the two facets of Time: the precision of its measure, and its infinite mystery.
sm trends for him
to basics
By Beth Braverman
It seems that black is the new black, when it comes to the latest watch styles.
“Black has always been a must,” says Audemars Piguet art director Octavio Garcia. “More than a trend, it is a philosophy. Black is elegance; it brings contrast to the watch.” Mille Miglia GT XL Chrono Speed Black, 44 mm case in DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) blackened steel, scratch-resistant and water-resistant to 100 metres, available exclusively from Chopard boutiques.
SM Magazine Summer 2008
Watchmakers have utilized a host of materials from blackened steel and ceramic to rubber and carbon fiber to create stylish new timepieces that appear long on style if short on color. Black diamonds add an extra touch of dressed up elegance to some timepieces. Garcia says that all-black watches let the watchmaker focus on the dial and improve the readability of the watch. He thinks black represents the perfect color for extreme pieces such as the Royal Oak Concept Carbon Tourbillon and Chronograph. While all white timepieces and colorful watches with interchangeable straps remain all the rage for women, men’s timepieces have gone in the opposite direction. The most au courant styles feature black dials, black cases and black straps.
Hublot released its first all-black ceramic watch in early 2006 with the launch of the Big Bang All Black. It has since also come out with the All Black King. “The All Black King is the first diving watch in ceramic,” says Hublot Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Biver. “The All Black King is probably the strongest and most macho watch that I have ever made and ever seen.” Watchmakers say such power and masculinity gives black watches an irresistible appeal. While always popular in sport and dive watches, the all-black trend has now reached the mainstream. The modern, but timeless look also interests men who look for a timepiece they can wear for years without worrying that it will go out of style.
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“The color black gives our watches the depth and intensity of timeless beauties,” says Rado President Roland Streule. “Mysterious and yet so pure, the black Rado watches stand out for their classical elegance and essential energy.”
FRANC VILA N° 1 “El Bandido” houses one of the first hand-made and hand-decorated FRANC VILA’s own movements. Equipped with a flying tourbillon with 5 days power reserve, this movement made history adopting an aesthetic shape for the first time.
Rado, known for its durable, high-tech ceramic watches, has a large collection of all-black watches. The Gotham watch by Tiret allows wearers to choose whether they want to wear it as an all-black watch or add some color with interchangeable gems and ceramic columns.
“Gotham is a forever watch,” says Tiret spokeswoman Sonya Goldberg. “It’s the first of its kind. A person can change the building blocks of the watch forever, dressing it up with diamonds or dressing it down with rubber or ceramic. As time goes on, new materials get discovered and they can become building blocks of Gotham. Therefore the watch is always current and never out of date.”
Chopard has also gotten in on the trend, updating its iconic Happy Diamonds series with its new “Happy Black” watch in ceramic. The watch has a black dial with three mobile diamonds, a quartz movement and a black rubber bracelet. “This watch is very popular because of its affordability,” says Chopard spokeswoman Alexis Przybylski. “It’s very versatile, sporty and fun.”
Eberhard & Co. CHRONO4 GRANDE TAILLE matches perfectly the most recent trend towards oversized watches. It is available in a sportive version in stainless steel or in red gold for those that prefer the elegance of precious metals. RADO Ceramica XL Pavé Pure elegance in black, heightened by a block of color. The Ceramica XL by Rado is adorned with gems. Luxurious and Audacious.
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The generously dimensioned case (Ø 43mm) hides a mechanical movement with automatic winding. The display follows a natural progression of time: minutes and hours hand, 24 hours and small seconds hand.
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CHRONO ALTIMETER
Zenith Class Tourbillon Black Guilloche
Ebel 1911 Discovery Automatic Chronograph
Blancpain Speed Command Chronograph
Tourbillon El Primero Chronograph where the star creates the bridges of the tourbillon cage and illuminates the whole dial. 4035calibre comprising 325 parts and 35 rubies. The tourbillon cage alone comprises 61 pieces weighing 0.45 grams. This unheard combination of a tourbillon and the mythical El Primero chronograph defies gravity with precision.
Ebel’s dynamic Discovery line has sparked and held the attention of a youthful masculine audience in search of a distinctively designed and technically reliable watch in tune with their active lifestyle. These overtly sporty models clearly display the 1911 family likeness, proclaiming their sense of belonging to a proud lineage evinced through the taut lines of the hexagonal 43 mm case and its five visible screws, as well as the brand’s hallmark smooth integration of case and bracelet, and a set of remarkable finishing details.
A fiery temperament and a passion for speed are the signature features of this sport watch. The exterior of this distinctive chronograph highlights new materials, while its technical functions are driven by a self-winding flyback chronograph movement. And since it hates not to be noticed, this Speed Command Chronograph is clad in black with a choice of yellow or orange accents.
The Concept version with a new tourbillon reveals the ultimate mystery of time.
COMPASS METEO THERMO ALARM Michael Owen - International Football Player
Concord C1 Worldtimer
Versace Dv One Chrono
Edox Les Bemonts Ultra Slim
Concord C1 Worldtimer adopts a fascinatingly somber appearance that is clearly geared for conquest. Behind this distinctive character lies a concentrated blend of mechanical engineering housed within an imposing 47 mm-diameter case that opens up whole new vistas for globetrotters by offering them time without borders. Concord has equipped the C1 Worldtimer with the finest instruments required to master time here or elsewhere, in step with its wearer’s travels and wishes. A uniquely unconventional vision of time that magnifies impetuous creativity.
The Versace DV One Chrono Matte ‘Soft Touch’ timepiece is the House of Medusa’s new concept of luxury, pairing elegance with design that emphasizes every small detail and the charm of materials. The timepiece celebrates a new way of ‘experiencing and living a watch’ thanks to its original matte case and ‘soft touch’ ceramic bracelet. It also comes with all the functionalities and detailing that we have come to expect with the Versace DV One series of timepieces.
Purist, unembellished, the essence of reductionist elegance. The engineers at Edox have produced an exclusive movement with a scant overall height of 1.4 mm - an in-house development made in the Swiss Jura, and a world record. Imagine a feather, or a sprig of lavender, and you can gauge this quartz movement’s filigree design. Fitted inside an ultra-flat case and affixed to a bracelet of satin-finished and polished stainless steel, this watch looks appropriately coquettish on the wrist.
More than a watch Tissot, Innovators by Tradition. SM Magazine Summer 2008
Titanium, Scratchproof tactile sapphire crystal, Swiss ETA movement, Water resistant to 30m/100ft 6 functions: compass, altimeter, barometer, thermometer, alarm and chrono
www.t-touch.com
sm trends for her
Whites
The watch industry trends are right on track, topping it off with Luxury Bright White Accessories. Sure to make a splash on any given holiday.
By Sherry Williams
What better way to say summer than BRIGHT WHITE! A woman always feels fresh and ready for summer when stepping into white. It’s clean, crisp and compliments any woman, giving her a feeling of purity.
CUERVO Y SOBRINOS Corazon
Ulysse Nardin Lady Diver Some ladies follow, while others are born to lead. A contemporary stylish timepiece, the LADY DIVER is sporty yet refined – genuinely mechanical yet suitable for diving.
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Scafodat 500. Profoundly different.
Gc Watches Diver Ceramic Series
Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Ceramique
Perrelet’s Diamond Flower
Combining femininity, purity of design and functionality, Gc Watches makes an extremely chic statement for the active lifestyle. This prestigious ceramic watch is offered in high-polished black or white ceramic, complete with a ceramic bezel and bracelet, water resistant to 100 meters and with Super Luminova hands.
This timepiece symbolises the perfect blend between the craftsman’s mastery of “grand feu” enamelwork, handed down from the 17th century, and the futuristic, technical nature of ceramic.
Perrelet as the inventor of the automatic movement in 1777 is best known to watch connoisseurs the world over by its “mechanical prowess”.
Presented in a Numerus Clausus limited edition of just 88, every watch is signed with its own individual number engraved on the back of the 44 mm case.
While the raison d’être of jewellery in watches has always been purely aesthetical, Perrelet has created a watch where jewellery has virtually been put in motion to fulfill a mechanical purpose.
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
Waltham Lady Baroda
Historically masculine in that it was developed to equip French Navy combat divers in their perilous underwater missions during the 1950s, the Fifty Fathoms is now also interpreted in a decidedly feminine mode.
Probably best known as the centrepiece of the Moon of Baroda necklace worn by Marilyn Monroe for the promotions of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, Waltham now encapsulates all the glamour and mystery of the Moon of Baroda in a magnificent model featuring nested pear shapes within a radiant case in 18K rose gold or 18K white gold, surrounded by a hand-facetted sapphire crystal.
The new Fifty Fathoms shows up in soft, light colours: pink for one and sky blue for the other. The face of the watch remains easily identifiable, while adopting a resolutely feminine character.
TISSOT T-Tracx White A fast track unrivalled sporty elegance appealingly clothed in femininity. With design origins in adrenalin-filled motor sport, this new timepiece enables the girl about town to exchange white knuckles for speedy results when it comes to making an impact. Its mother-of-pearl dial ensures that proudly feminine sophistication also finds its way on to the podium. These refreshing new watches offer dynamic females all the equipment they need for life in the fast lane.
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PATENT PENDING
SCAFODAT 500. WATER-RESISTANT TO 500M, BIG CROWN AT 4 O’CLOCK, SECURITY HELIUM VALVE AND SPECIAL PATENT ON THE CHICANE BRACELET, ALL EMBODIED IN THE SIGN OF THE SEA-HORSE SCULPTED ON ITS CASE.
Eberhard & Co. S.A. - Bienne - Suisse - www.eberhard-co-watches.ch International Trade: ASTOR TIME LTD. - Lugano - Suisse - Ph. +41 (0) 91 993.26.01
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sm fashion
Summertime and the living is easy.... Cooling off poolside without a care in the world, doing it with style and elegance. Photography: Ken Pivak Art Direction: Sherry Williams Styling: Xavier Orthon for Richard Bowman Make-up & Hair: Kerry Herta for Josie Maran Models: Karen Manco, Ben Tocco, Taylor Rose (Next model management LA) Location: Beverly Hills, California
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Beige georgette slik gown, RICHARD BOWMAN - $1200.00 Anneau Long drop earrings by DE GRISOGINO - $53,000.00 SM Magazine Summer 2008
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PRADA glasses - $350.00 ICELINK Orange Crocodile Bikini Watch - $8900.00 XR collection chocolate tunic - $230.00 Multi-color hat from ANTHROPOLOGY - $90.00 SM Magazine Summer 2008
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MONTBLANC TimeWalker Steel/Ceramic - $5,800.00 BANANA REPUBLIC white linen shirt - $150.00 XR Collection Summer floods - $220.00 SM Magazine Summer 2008
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XR Collection leopard print bikini - $180.00 MILUS womens Merea Tri-retrograde in ROSE gold w/white alligator strap - $24,500 MILUS mens Herios Tri-Retrograde stainless steel w/brown alligator strap - $ 8,400 XR summer collection biege swim short - $70.00
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Black and white bikini AZZOLINI - $200.00 Black and white mono-kini by AZZOLINI - $250.00 Allegra ring by DE GRISOGONO - $11,200 Allegra earrings by DE GRISOGINO - $25,300 SM Magazine Summer 2008
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Senator Snow collection black croco with diamonds by ICELINK- $38.500 Black bikini by PAKO PANO - $140.00 Black bikini by XR Collection - $180.00 Boule Pavé ring by DE GRISOGONO - $22.700 Tino black diamonds ladies watch by DE GRISOGONO - $36.200 Power Breaker men’s watch in black steel by DE GRISOGONO - $16.000 SM Magazine Summer 2008
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SM Magazine Summer 2008
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sm haute joaillerie
The Paon - Joaillerie Boutique collection with its pure and scintillating lines is a perfectly balanced blend of jewellery expertise and a precious interpretation of the wonders of the world - designed to make its wearer feel more beautiful with each passing day.
Les Animaux Les Animaux mythiques de LĂŠon Hatot
An endless source of inspiration for poets and painters, incredibly beautiful and amazingly majestic, the Peacock is a spectacular vision that has fascinated humankind since Ancient times.
LEON HATOT SM Magazine Summer 2008
LEON HATOT
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After the Exceptional Creations collection, the master-jeweller Léon Hatot once again stages the most extravagant of all birds through a Joaillerie Boutique collection, gentle and colourful like the splendid finery of the legendary animal: jewellery that is easy to wear and graced with scintillating colours and exquisitely fine designs. The Paon collection captures the fleeting and dazzlingly beautiful moment when the bird parades its
incredible feathers with its countless eyes, like gemstones placed there by a goddess. A tribute to perfection and to the beauty of life, the Paon jewellery by Léon Hatot perpetuates the wonder one feels when contemplating the splendours of nature. Exalting women’s natural radiance and reflecting the light like the iridescent motifs on the unfurled tail of the peacock, they evoke the fabulous vision of a starlit sky.
Santos Triple 100 watch A special mechanism offering three modulating dials in 18 carat white gold: one face set with round diamonds and black sapphires, one face engraved with a tiger motif and one varnished face.
LEON HATOT
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Panseri © Cartier 2008
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sm haute joaillerie
Bride to be
Les Essentiels by Furrer-Jacot exclusive solitaire rings for the 150th anniversary With his latest solitaire ring collection the FurrerJacot designer Lucas Ruppli has succeeded in combining classic engagement rings with the modern solitaire diamond. The diamond in each ring enjoys a solo appearance and is able to give its most brilliant performance. Breathtaking brilliance is created by the solitaire rings for diamonds which will play the main role with passion and provide the wearer with a glamorous appearance in the spotlight.
The modern classics are ideal not only as a romantic companion for the engagement but also as a personal reward for a very special moment. In this collection, Furrer-Jacot offers classic luxury jewellery, fully developed models that don’t date, that signify generosity, yet never appear pretentious. The wedding ring classics are the choice for a handful of connoisseurs who can afford dignified restraint.
Chopard Haute Joaillerie Perfection pervade this splendid choker with its delicate diamond flowers. Imbued with a refreshing, spring-like charm, it cascades gracefully down an exquisite cleavage. Finally, to light up a neckline and set the finishing touch to an evening gown, stunning ladies will go for a large sparkling necklace featuring magnificent cushion-cut sapphires mingled with a shower of diamonds. FURRER JACOT Les Essentiels
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Bride To Be 65
CHOPARD HAUTE JOAILLERIE
Chopard Haute Joaillerie - Or the art of transforming stones into treasures With Chopard aesthetes, diamond-lovers and devotees of fine gemstones alike are spoilt for choice. Characterised by a perfect blend of elegance, beauty, know-how and originality, the creations from this luxury brand are among the most sophisticated and spectacular in the field of Haute Joaillerie. In much the same way as Haute Couture, the Chopard collections are distinguished by the extreme creativity, care and sensitivity that have governed the crafting of each model.
FURRER JACOT
The focus Chopard places on developing unique compositions of diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds of exceptional cuts and sizes, have earned it a premier rank in the kingdom of Haute Joaillerie. The exuberant inventiveness of the creations and their perfect execution naturally contribute to this outstanding success. The new Haute Joaillerie collection by Chopard remains loyal to the creative traditions of the House. “Sure to entice any bride to be�.
FURRER JACOT
CHOPARD
FURRER JACOT Les Essentiels SM Magazine Summer 2008
FURRER JACOT Les Essentiels
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sm haute joaillerie
CHOPARD HAUTE JOAILLERIE watch
Summer florals Take yourself on a journey to experience the wonders of all the colors of your imagination, with the beautifully crafted gemstones that summer allows us, and dream til’ your heart desires.
LEON HAOT PIVOINE ring
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Summer Florals 69
The Right Label
Gracious spirit
Reflections of love
The flowering stream
A spectacular orchid blooms by night, its borders glowing with black diamonds and black gold. In the changing light of its creator’s eye, the edges of the night take on a lighter, golden hue and the diamonds fill with sparkling light. At the centre of this fascinating and exotic flower, sapphires in light and darker gold are enhanced by luminous diamonds. A provocative and elegant temptation.
A mysterious artist paints the surface of this sparkling ring with a brush of magical light, transforming precious stones into a flowing floral portrait. Surrounding the reflections of the heart are delicate flowers, sapphires that form petals in a range of shimmering colours.
A mountain stream bubbles up from a secret source beneath the earth. From a quiet pool it winds its way through verdant forests and golden fields. The tender flowering stream runs through light and shadow, absorbing and reflecting the colours of the magical world through which it flows.
An imaginary land Once upon a time in a faraway land where blossoms grew in sparkling stones, a butterfly landed on a band of gold. Every time the butterfly shivered, its wings took on a different hue. For a moment, the changing colours and the shimmering light hides the butterfly from view, but the eye soon catches sight of the delicate creature glowing in the night.
SM Magazine Summer 2008
LEON HATOT Pivoine necklace The immaculate whiteness of the diamond, the radiance of blue sapphire and the refinement of pink rubies: three shades of precious stones creating a gentle harmony in floral motifs with baroque accents.
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sm news
“We’ve been really pleased with the business results for the store,” he adds. “Business has increased dramatically in the new space.”
Chopard new NYC boutique By Beth Braverman
New York - Visitors to New York’s high-end shopping district on Madison Avenue will find a new jewel among the shops: a new Chopard boutique. The store, which opened in November, not only offers a wide selection of jewelry in a breathtaking space designed by architect Thierry W. Despont, but it also incorporates several environmentally friendly elements. The historic building’s 18-foot windows, for example, feature special glass made to filter UV light from the street, keeping the boutique cooler and lessening the store’s need for air conditioning. Despont also constructed the flagship entirely from renewable woods, eliminating the destruction of trees. Customers have responded fantastically to the new store, which has a 60-foot frontage on Madison Avenue says Mark Hruschka, president of Chopard North America.
SM Magazine Summer 2008
Located at 709 Madison Avenue, the new flagship represents Chopard’s 100th store and its largest to date. Chopard co-president Caroline GruosiScheufele selected the location for its unique history and luxurious appointments. The corner of 63rd Street and Madison Avenue sits in the heart of one of the more important retail corridors in New York City. All Chopard boutiques strive to present a similar vibe, offering warm, traditional feeling with cozy wood accents, an inviting nickel fireplace and custom-made silver chandeliers. The boutique features 7,000 square feet of veneer panels and 2,100 linear feet of moldings. Creating the displays to 8,000 hours of cabinet making.
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“There are a lot of brands now that are looking to give their stores that warm, noncommercial feeling,” Hruschka says. “But at Chopard, we have always done that.” The wall panels and store fixtures feature white oak, fine leather appears in the wall panels and in furniture fronts and velvet creates luxurious curtains and chair upholstery.
restoration of the Statue of Liberty, designed the Decorative Arts galleries of the new J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the renovation of Claridge’s Hotel in London.
The Madison Avenue store takes the concept to a new level. Despont worked with the Scheufele family, owners of Chopard, to create a store that conveyed an aura of a private home in which guests can view breathtaking jewels.
Despont aimed to design the Chopard boutique to convey the brand’s blend of a century-old family tradition and high-tech creations. He designed the boutique as he would a luxury home.
Born in France and trained in Paris, with an additional degree from Harvard University, master architect and designer Thierry Despont has designed homes for celebrities like Bill Gates and Calvin Klein. He served as an associated architect for the centennial
Three thousand square feet comprise the main floor and the mezzanine of the boutique. The store, which offers causal as well as private browsing, has defined areas for High Jewelry, high-end men’s watches and accessory collections.
To display the jewelry, Despont created custom LCD display cases for the store’s windows. The displays feature unique, rotating screens that display jewelry in a traditional setting on one side (during the day) and a flat-screen television on the other. The flat screen projects images of work by Chopard-sponsored video artists at night time. The store celebrated its grand opening in November with a 600-person party hosted by Gruosi-Scheufele, Karl-Fredrich Scheufele and Elton John. Elizabeth Hurley, Rachel Weisz and Adrian Brody were among the dozens of celebrities to attend the event.
C H O PA R D I S S I M O – T H E R E V O LV I N G S I G N AT U R E R I N G SM Magazine Summer 2008
sm travel
Cayo Espanto
Golden paradise
By Kathy Hagood
Flying toward the San Pedro airstrip on Ambergris Caye off the coast of Belize the pilot points out Cayo Espanto in the sparkling aqua and teal Caribbean waters. The tiny island, about the size of a football field, is lush green with six villas spaced out along its sandy shoreline. From the airstrip, you’re ferried by a small motorboat to the island where the Cayo Espanto staff is lined up in uniform to greet you. Your houseman has your cocktail waiting on a silver tray. Thus begins your visit to a fantasy island where you’ll be catered to and pampered all day long or left alone to savor the paradise as you so choose. It’s no wonder Cayo Espanto has received top awards from “Forbes,” “Fodor’s,” “The Travel Channel,” and “Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report.” If you tire of hanging out in your hammock, getting massages on your patio and kayaking around the
SM Magazine Summer 2008
island, you’re free to opt for a private dive, snorkel or fishing charter or an adventure excursion into the rain forests on the mainland. The exclusive island, which isn’t much bigger than a football field, has hosted such notables as Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, Tiger Woods and Chelsea Clinton. Leonardo DiCaprio has visited the island several times and is a business partner of Cayo Espanto owner Jeff Gram. Gram and DiCaprio have bought a nearby island, Blackadore Caye, which also will eventually be developed.
“Because Cayo Espanto offers both a high level of luxury and privacy we attract celebrities, business executives and foreign dignitaries as well as other affluent guests,” says Gram, an American based in Atlanta. No more than 16 guests are allowed on Cayo Espanto at any one time, and guests rarely if ever see each other because they have their own villas and dine on their own patios or docks. Upon my late afternoon arrival my houseman Johnny Berganza and his assistant, Karim Madrid, ushered me down the center of the island on a palm tree
Cayo Espanto 77
As we flew over Cayo Espanto I understood a new meaning for Gram’s translation of the island’s name, “Phantom Key.” Of course, once you visit, the memory of the island will haunt you forever.
lined path to Casa Estrella, the largest of the islands six villas. There I finished my welcome cocktail and began to take in the beauty that surrounded me.
Although the day I arrived was sunny a gentle wind cooled me as I surveyed the scene from my covered patio.
Because Casa Estrella is positioned at the tip of the island, it has two docks and its own secluded beach area. It’s surrounded by clear, green waters, which become aqua and then deep blue as the water deepens. The calm Caribbean Sea seems to go on forever to the west and Ambergris Caye can be seen to the east.
The two-story villa itself is a work of art with its elegant simplicity, a perfect balance of form and function. Festive turquoise plantation doors and window shutters used throughout allow for maximum airflow and a mint-green plunge pool is a cool oasis.
SM Magazine Summer 2008
By the time I had unpacked and settled in my houseman, accompanied by one of the island’s chefs, called to plan my dinner menu. One of the options was lobster, my favorite, so I chose that.
That night when I turned in, the cushy bed surrounded by a mosquito net seemed like a cocoon and I slept soundly. The next morning I slept in and gave a call to my housemen when I was ready for my coffee.
A little later Johnny and Karim began dressing up my patio and dock for my evening meal. They set out tiki torches and luminaries along the dock and set my table with beautiful linens and silverware as well as fresh flowers. The five-course dinner that followed was scrumptious.
Days on Cayo Espanto can drift slowly by as it’s easy to get caught up in a nirvana of looking out over the sparkling water and watching the pelicans fly and dive. Reading in my hammock was one of my favorite occupations while I was on the island. And I took advantage of my private villa’s patio to receive a fresh-air deep-tissue massage.
The local waters are a fisherman’s paradise whether you’re interested in fly fishing, reef fishing, deep reef fishing or deep sea fishing. As the world’s second largest reef is located off the coast of Belize, those who enjoy diving or snorkeling shouldn’t miss the opportunity to take a private charter from Cayo Espanto. If you’re staying for more than a few days, you may want to opt for an excursion to the mainland, which is known for rainforests and Mayan ruins.
The morning I left Cayo Espanto it was overcast and raining. As the staff thinks of everything, they had a rain suit for me to wear and wrapped my luggage in plastic to prepare for my boat ride back to Ambergris Caye. The staff is so dedicated that they patiently waited in the rain waving as I departed. The clouds dispersed before my flight from the San Pedro airstrip and we were clear for take off.
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“As you can imagine, many of our guests return year after year,” Gram says. VOGLIA
Additional information Cayo Espanto villa rentals range from $995 to $2,495 per night for between one and four guests, and a three-night minimum stay is required. The daily rate includes a personal houseman, all meals and drinks, excluding wine and champagne, and non-motorized water sports like kayaking.
SM Magazine Summer 2008
The whole island can be rented for $10,000 or $12,000 per day depending upon the season. The high season runs from Jan. 8 through May 31. Five of Cayo Espanto’s six villas (Casa Brisa, Casa Manana, Casa Olita, Casa Aurora and Casa Estrella) feature plunge pools. Casa Ventana, which doesn’t have a pool, is the island’s new overwater bungalow.
stainless steel case set with 0.70 ct of full cut finest diamonds on black ceramic bracelet
Private dive and snorkeling charters and guided reef and deep-sea fishing trips are available and excursions to the mainland for picnicking, golf and Mayan ruin tours can be arranged. Private boat, plane and helicopter charters are available. For more information on Cayo Espanto visit www.aprivateisland.com
www.bertolucci-watches.com Phone: +41 22 756 95 00
sm ambassadors
By Sherry Williams
The Man.... The Humanitarian. The Legend... Andre Kirk Agassi The Man
One of the most relentless players of all time
Born on April 29th, 1970. Born a rebel in what is one of the worlds most charming and greatest tennis players, with more passion and compassion then any predecessors before, granting him the title of the most relentless player of all time. Through sheer determination, Andre’s father forecasted his son to be one greatest players of all time, and this, is also what sparked the Lion out of his cage. What his father couldn’t obtain, his son surely would, and in this molding together, they would create the most courageous and poignant man in the history of Tennis.
If you asked a friend to describe him as a person, as a man... they would give you words like, “down to earth”, selfless, honorable. On the heels of a celebration during the French Open he met his match and ended up marrying, and sharing a family with his soul mate, also one of the worlds finest Women in Tennis Pro History, Steffi Graph, and consummate his existence of the future before him with two beautiful children together son Jaden Gil and daughter Jaz Elle to continue their legacy.
Andre Agassi - Ambassador of elegance for Longines
SM Magazine Summer 2008
Andre Agassi 83
The Humanitarian
Agassi the philanthropist and the humanitarian started the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation in 1994 in which assists the youth of Las Vegas. He was awarded the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award in 1995 for his efforts in helping children with disadvantages.
In 1997 he also funded Child Haven in Clark’s County with his foundation which is the only residential facility for abused and neglected children. Andre’s charity often takes the form of assisting children with their athletic potential. His Boys and Girls Club of America sees 2000 children and boasts a world class junior tennis team. It also has a basketball program (The Agassi Stars) and a rigorous system that encourages a mix of academics and athletics. In 2001 Andre open the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy also in Las Vegas, a tuitionfree charter school for at risk children, it also provides a full medical facility that aids the developmentally delayed or handicapped children giving them a save haven to be comfortable in their surroundings. In 2007 Andre Agassi along with Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Mario Lemuex, Alonso Mourning, and Cal Ripken Jr. founded Athletes for Hope, a Charitable organization that helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspire millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support their community.
The Legend
Andre Agassi record as a legend, speaks clearly in the charts; Winning not only 4, as his father forecasted but 8 Grand Slams, 1 Olympic Gold, The Tennis Masters Cup, ATP Masters Series 17 times, as well as the ATP tour 33 times. SM Magazine Summer 2008
Playing and Training with the top competitors of all time such as Jimmy Conners, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, and Roger Federer, whom which all have respected him and praised him and doing it with the most charming showmanship. Agassi has earned more than $30 Million US dollars in Prize-money throughout his career and still today around $25 million in endorsements alone. Since retiring after the 2006 U.S. Open Agassi has participated in a number of charitable tournaments and continues to work on his own charity. During his last tournament he quoted this “Thanks, the score board said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn’t say, is what I found. And in the last 21 years, I have found Loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and in my life. I have found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed even in my lowest moments and for this I have found generosity. You have given me shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21years,
I have found you. And I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life Thank you. “ In 2007 Agassi was a surprise commentator for the Roddick-Federer match for the U.S. Open, He showed us innocence with determination as well as emotion beyond the conservative roots that he had started from. Creating a style in rebel fashion this Legend has kept us excited and entertained for the last 21 years and surprises us still today and for the years to come. Keep us on our toes for a little bit more of…. AGASSI. We take our hat off to the MAN, the HUMANITARIAN and the LEGEND… And take notes of ourselves to become a better person, possibly allowing you to let us look up at you, as last but certainly not least…
Our hero Andre Agassi 85
sm ambassadors
Maggie Cheung Piaget for
The House of Piaget has just gotten a little more exotic since naming the stunning Hong Kong Actress, Maggie Cheung as it’s international ambassador. CEO of Piaget, Philippe Léopold-Metzger was seeking someone who “embodies the brand in a more personal way.”
SM Magazine Summer 2008
To Metzger, Cheung was the first person who came to mind to be the face of Piaget. “She’s exactly the right person for Piaget: cosmopolitan, distinguished, exclusive. She has style and the perfect combination of modern and traditional facets. A genuine personality.” Cheung, who has already appeared in more than 70 films, is set to represent the watchmaker-jeweller brand worldwide, lending her natural charm and sophistication to the legendary brand. While Piaget and Maggie Cheung may been conceived almost 100 years apart, each of their talents blossomed in a gentle and discreet manner. From a family business born in the tiny Swiss village of La Côtes-aux-Fées, and an uneventful childhood, two exceptional destinies began to take shape. A metamorphosis would see the emergence of a worldwide brand distinguished by boundless creativity; and another that of a fashion model who became an internationally acclaimed actress. Born in Hong Kong, but raised in the United Kingdom, Cheung was destiny for great things at the age of 18, she left the UK to return to her native homeland where her beauty landed her a job in the fashion world as a model. After many years as a fashion model, Cheung got bit with the acting bug and she started to focus more on that career.
Pretty soon, Cheung was in such high demand, that she became the actress every director wanted to work with. Her fame soon spilled over the borders of Asia and onto the rest of the world. In 1992 at the Berlin Film Festival, she won Best Actress “Silver Bear” award for her performance in Stanley Kwan’s Centre Stage. But it was her role in Wong Kar Wai’s Mood for Love that propelled her to worldwide acclaim. It is no doubt that Piaget wanted this gracefully spirit to represent their brand. “I am deeply honoured to be considered as a ‘perfect match’ for Piaget. I have always admired the ‘extreme’ characters of this brand… It embodies elegance and perfection but does not forget to be audacious and inventive. I am sure this will be a truly beautiful relationship!” To capture the elegance of Cheung and the jewellery, British photographer Patrick Demarchelier was tapped to shoot a stunning series of photos of the actress wearing Piaget creations. Under the lens of this great man, Maggie Cheung used her multifaceted sensual and unpredictable personality to play up to the camera in order to highlight the brand’s creations. Piaget and Maggie Cheung’s merge will no doubt create a timeless partnership of grace and beauty that will stand out to the world.
Maggie Cheung for Piaget 87
sm events
By Susan Robinson
Each year in August, the Swiss-Italian town of Locarno is abuzz with excitement over the sighting of the Golden Leopard. Rare yet approachable, the Golden Leopard captures the imagination of the human mind, with a profound effect on the emotions as well.
LOCARNO Film Festival If you are a film aficionado, you likely have heard about this Golden Leopard and perhaps have been lucky enough to see it. You see, the Golden Leopard is the prestigious award presented to the winning film chosen from 20 fiction features during the Locarno International Film Festival. Founded in 1946, the Locarno Festival is one of the world’s oldest film events, alongside Venice and Cannes. Throughout its history, it has increased its audience, media coverage and influence, yet retained its identity. Its tradition of openness and dialogue has made the festival a platform for the promotion of cinemas around the globe. Locarno knows no borders - geographic, thematic or stylistic - and through its dozen categories it embraces all types of films in every format. This year at the festival, scheduled for Aug. 6-16, Oscar-winning American actress Anjelica Huston will receive the Excellence Award 2008. One of Huston’s first major screen roles was in “A Walk With Love and Death” (1969), directed by her father, John Huston. Their next collaboration, “Prizzi’s Honor” (1986), won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The presentation of the Excellence Award
will be followed by the European premiere of “Choke,” a black comedy from director Clark Gregg starring Huston, Sam Rockwell and Kelly Macdonald. Huston also will hold a Master class during the festival. Cinema fans have another treat in store with the world premiere of “Nordwand” (North Face) by Philipp Stölzl on the Piazza Grande, an enormous open-air setting that can accommodate more than 8,000 viewers. Based on a true story, the adventure film recounts a legendary and tragic expedition. The German-Austrian-Swiss co-production follows two Bavarians, Toni Kurz and Andi Hinterstoisser, who in 1936 set out to tame the north face of the Eiger, the most daunting expanse in the Alps. Other highlights include a spotlight on short films, Leopards of Tomorrow. Billed as “an arena for revelation and discovery,” the category welcomed the first films made by Barbara Albert, Paul Thomas Anderson, Fatih Akin, Roberta Torre and many others. This section, which screens mostly fiction work whose directors have not yet made feature films, has two competitions. One is devoted to films by young Swiss filmmakers, and the other is open to films from around the world.
Locarno Film Festival 89
THE VAL UE OF TIME
La Habana 2007 “As seen today – the interior of Cuervo y Sobrinos`original boutique founded 1882” THE ALLURE OF HAVANA. 125 YEARS OF HISTORY REDISCOVERED THROUGH SWISS WATCH MAKING MASTERY As part of its mission to bridge gaps between diverse and distant film cultures, the Locarno Festival remains committed to the Open Doors program. Now in its sixth year, Open Doors raises the visibility of film projects from developing countries and from nations that lack a constructive film industry. The program sets up networking opportunities with possible co-
SM Magazine Summer 2008
producers and other partners who may be able to help jump-start projects. This year the Open Doors section focuses on Central and South America. For rubbing shoulders with established directors, sampling the work of up-and-coming filmmakers and enjoying the camaraderie of 190,000 fans, you
need look no further than the Locarno International Film Festival. It’s the place to be this summer! For more information, visit: www.pardo.ch www.ticino-tourism.ch www.myswitzerland.com.
SINCE 1882 CUERVO Y SOBRINOS, A LUXURY BRAND KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, HAS CREATED THEIR OWN LINE OF WATCHES IN FABRICATION AT LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS (SWITZERLAND). THESE TIMEPIECES RETAIN THE VINTAGE AESTHETICS TRUE TO THEIR ORIGINAL DESIGNS, WHILE INCORPORATING THE BEST OF MODERN SWISS FEATURES AND INNOVATION.
Cuervo y Sobrinos Via Greina, 2 - CH-6901 Lugano - Switzerland - Phone +41 (0)91 921 27 73/74 - Fax +41 (0)91 921 27 75 www.cuervoysobrinos.com - info@cuervoysobrinos.com
Espléndidos Retrograde
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sm sport
Olympic timeless collection “Beijing 2008, Unique No. 8 Collection” OMEGA and the Olympic Games have been inextricably linked for the past 76 years, ever since the company was first called upon in 1932 to provide thirty pocket watch chronographs to official timekeepers for use at the Los Angeles 1932 Olympic Games.
SM Magazine Summer 2008
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are OMEGA’s 23rd as Official Timekeeper. The enduring partnership between the International Olympic Committee and OMEGA represents a unique tribute to the precision and long-term reliability of the company’s products. The Beijing 2008, Unique No. 8 Collection was conceived as the ultimate commemoration of the relationship between OMEGA and the Games: 35 distinctive timepieces representing 160 years of OMEGA watchmaking, 76 years of Olympic Timekeeping and 113 years of OMEGA in China.
It is composed of the eighth numbered piece of each of the 32 Limited Edition watches in the OMEGA Beijing Olympic Collection, plus three “Olympic Split Seconds Chronograph 1932” pocket watches, also numbered 008 in their limited editions of 100 pieces. The launch of the 32 Limited Edition watches corresponds to countdown dates leading up to the Olympics, starting with Minus One Year, followed by Minus 288 days, Minus 188 days, Minus 88 days and finally culminating with Countdown 0, the 8th of August, 2008.
The ultimate Olympic collectable. 888,888 Swiss francs.
The 35 classic timepieces in this one-of-a-kind collection are presented in an elegant black walnut case whose intricate design pays homage to traditional Chinese architecture. Popular belief in China holds that the number 8 is fortuitous, so the watches representing the Beijing Olympic Collection are housed in the black tower in eight separate drawers, placed one above the other reminiscent of a rectangular pagoda. The concept also reflects OMEGA’s long-established links to the Far East: the brand entered the Chinese market in 1895, and as China gears up for its first Olympic Games, OMEGA, in its role as Official Timekeeper, will be a familiar presence in Beijing and throughout the country.
OMEGA, the Swiss luxury watchmaker and Official Timekeeper of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, reveals the extraordinary “Beijing 2008, Unique No. 8 Collection” whose beauty, rarity, and extravagance define it as the ultimate Olympic collector’s item. Based on the “lucky number 8” concept, it includes an example of every OMEGA timepiece licensed for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing. The watches are delivered in a striking, black walnut pagoda-influenced tower with a lacquered finish. The Unique No. 8 Collection, is limited to... one.
Olympicc Timeless Collection 93
OMEGA Olympic Timeless Collection Six classic timepieces and the world premiere of the Speedmaster 5-Counters Chronographs The precision chronographs in the Olympic Timeless Collection pay special tribute to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing and to OMEGA’s key contributions to the art and science of sports timekeeping. The watches recall the chronographs used at the 1932 Los Angeles Games when OMEGA was named Official Timekeeper for the first time. Six of the models in the Collection feature the Arabic numerals and the red OMEGA name and logo found on those early models and share an extraordinarily striking feature: the five interlocking coloured Olympic rings are mounted on the counterweights of the central chronograph seconds hand. The Collection also includes a stunning world premiere: the Speedmaster 5-Counters Chronographs are the first mechanical wristwatches ever to have five counters displayed on their dials . . . even more
SM Magazine Summer 2008
remarkably, the five black counters are arranged to form the Olympic rings. The 5-Counters Chronographs are visual and technological masterpieces. Each chronograph in the Olympic Timeless Collection has the Olympic rings symbol, the OMEGA name and logo and the inscription “Official Timekeeper” stamped on the case back, further reflecting OMEGA’s historic connections to the Olympic Games. The OMEGA Olympic Timeless Collection will undoubtedly appeal to collectors of Olympic Games memorabilia, although the design of these unique timepieces is sure to interest admirers of classic timepieces as well, collectors of OMEGA chronographs in particular.
The remarkable watches in the Olympic Timeless Collection salute the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing and commemorate OMEGA’s peerless record of innovation in watchmaking and sports timekeeping.
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sm speed
Weber Fast One If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. So the saying goes, but Switzerland has never been one to go along with convention. For decades Switzerland’s neighbors have taken turns setting and then beating the most impossibly lofty performance benchmarks: Ferraris and Lamborghinis to the south in Italy, Porsches to the east in Germany, Bugattis skirting Switzerland’s border between Italy, Germany and France… even Koenigsegg has brought Sweden into the game. Apparently the Swiss have finally tired of sitting back and watching everyone else have all the fun and share all the glory. The result of that unrest is called the Faster One, made by Tobel, Thurgau-based Weber Sportscars. After the Bugatti Veyron hit the road with its 1000hp quad-turbo sixteen-cylinder engine and 400 km/h top speed, the benchmark was set. Many said it would never be defeated, citing the immense development costs shouldered by the megalithic Volkswagen auto empire and its obsessed commitment of its vast resources to the goal of creating the fastest street-legal automobile the world had ever seen. However while the Veyron’s performance capabilities are irrefutably legendary, its designers reached their goals in an arguably backwards fashion, allowing function to follow form. The engineers at Weber
SM Magazine Summer 2008
Sportscars took the opposite approach, allowing form to follow function in all but complete blindness. The result may not be the prettiest of automotive creations – in fact some have called it the ugliest – but the performance of which it is said to be capable speaks for itself. Weber started in the wind tunnel, finely-honing a shape that would yield the maximum aerodynamic efficiency and high-speed stability. The bodywork was then crafted entirely out of carbon fiber, that same magical lightweight material pioneered for use in Formula One cars. Although Weber Sportscars doesn’t enjoy the same direct relationship with an active F1 team as do the sportscar-makers at Ferrari or McLaren, the exploitation of aerodynamics and lightweight construction methods aren’t the only practices borrowed from the highly competitive world of grand prix racing. The Faster One’s chassis is built around a solid safety cell, with an F1-style steering wheel in front of the paddle actuators for the custom-developed six-speed sequential gearbox, joined by the inclusion of F1-derived carbon-ceramic brakes and active traction control.
While many of its components – including the variable-deployment rear wing that provides downforce at high speeds and wind resistance under braking – are some of the most sophisticated systems on the road, the heart of the Faster One could hardly be more basic. Starting life as one of the most primitive engines designs in production, the General Motors LS7, the Weber’s 7.0-liter pushrod, twin-valve V8 is borrowed from the Chevrolet Corvette Z06. The powertrain engineers at Weber, however, have torn the LS7 apart and rebuilt it from the ground up, installing two superchargers to bring total output up to 900 horsepower and 774 lb-ft of torque. If you’re comparing that to the benchmark Bugatti’s 1000 hp and 922 lb-ft and thinking that the Weber is laying down the stakes with a lower hand, consider that at 1100 kg, the Faster One is nearly 800 kg lighter than the Veyron, and the Swiss machine may stand more than a fighting chance of living up to its name.
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sm directories Germaine Kruip, Counter Composition, 2007, 80x80xØ80cm (Courtesy The Approach, London)
Gourmet Travel. Lavaux, Lake Geneva Region
MySwitzerland.com Discover the varied cuisine and the noble wines of Switzerland. For example in a vineyard, watching a spectacular sunset. Or in a gourmet restaurant in the midst of snow-covered mountains. Find out where to enjoy which Swiss speciality in our new brochure “Gourmet Travel” – or visit www.MySwitzerland.com. It is our pleasure to help plan your holiday. Call us: 00800 100 200 30 (freephone).
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SM Magazine Summer 2008
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Elegance is an attitude
www.longines.com
Aishwarya Rai
Longines DolceVita